Sven Birkerts: Present at the Creation of “Infinite Jest”

Sven Birkerts: Present at the Creation of “Infinite Jest”

Sven Birkerts is a literary critic and essayist as well as a professor at Boston University and the editor of the literary quarterly AGNI. He was very nearly present at the creation of David Foster Wallace’s “Infinite Jest” more than 20 years ago, but in this conversation, I wanted him to begin with today: how Wallace’s masterpiece became a touchstone for a generation. I asked him if he was ready to call it a great book.